Like modern-day alchemists, materials scientists often turn unassuming substances into desirable ones. But instead of working metal into gold, they create strange new compounds that could make the electronic components of the future smaller, faster, and more durable. Researchers from the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the Atomic Weapons Establishment in England, using an HP-CAT beamline at the APS, have made two durable compounds possessing traits that could prove quite valuable to industry. See: http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1001220